GE Power to supply nuclear turbine islands for El Dabaa plant

09 October 2018

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GE Power has won the contract to deliver the turbine island equipment for the El Dabaa nuclear power plant project in Egypt through AAEM, its joint venture with Russia's Atomenergomash. GE Power will supply the basic design of four conventional islands, supply four nuclear turbine generator sets, including the Arabelle half-speed steam turbines, and provide technical expertise for the on-site installation and commissioning.

(Image: GE Power)

Egypt and Russia signed an intergovernmental agreement in November 2015 to collaborate in the construction and operation of four 1200 MWe units. It will be Egypt's first nuclear power plant.

"As Egypt works to diversify its energy production and to support its growing economy, the El Dabaa nuclear power plant, equipped with GE Power's Arabelle technology, will help Egypt deliver on their ambitious goals," Andreas Lusch, CEO of GE's Steam Power, said today. "The Arabelle is helping to deliver more than 20GW of power around the world and we will leverage this experience and know-how to deliver reliable, dependable and CO2 free energy to the Egyptian grid," he added.

GE Power noted that electricity demand in Egypt has increased rapidly as a result of its growing population and increasing industrial activity. It is estimated that an additional 1.5 GW of new capacity will be needed each year - a 6% increase year-on-year until 2022.

"To support this increasing demand without blackouts, Egypt has an ambitious energy plan which includes diversifying its installed base," the company said. "El Dabaa nuclear power plant will help deliver on that plan by stabilising the Egyptian grid with dependable, CO2 free energy and having a predictable low cost of electricity. Once in operation, El Dabaa will produce 4.8 GW - enough to power up more than four million homes in Egypt."

The Arabelle steam turbine has been in operation for the past 18 years. The French fleet of Arabelle has a demonstrated reliability rate of 99.96% over more than 400,000 operating hours, GE Power said.

The El Dabaa project builds on GE Power's support for the development of Egypt's energy sector for more than 40 years which includes delivering up to 16 GW to the Egyptian grid. Recently, GE Power completed building and connecting the Badr substation to the national grid. The new 500/220 kilovolt (kV) gas-insulated substation will dispatch 1.5 GW of electricity and play a strategic role in the upcoming Egypt-Saudi Arabia Interconnection, linking the national grids of both countries with a 1300-kilometre transmission line, GE Power said.